My absurd Alley project has reached what I hope is its final form. I am pretty happy with it, although of course it is not perfect. As usual, you can bash the Preview and get a pretty good look at what's inside. I think I have finally shrunk my fonts enough for print, but that does make them rather small online.
Note the use of "progressive design" which indicates, well, you get to decide what it means.
Alley: Rogue Photo 2
This is blurb's magazine, the cheap glossy paper, and good lord it looks stunning. You can't really write on it, so it's badly suited for handwork. In fact, a darkly inked section will tend to act a bit like carbon paper, transferring ink to a facing page if you write on the back. I am keeping track of whether it ever dries/cures out of this state, or if it's permanent.
This is 100% better than the last. It's unclear to me how it fits what you have described as "progressive design" in a previous blog post; this is a considerably more conventional book layout, and all the better for it.
ReplyDeleteThe attentive reader might notice that the design elements are pretty conventional on any given spread, but they evolve as you page through the magazine.
DeleteIf it's not obvious, that's good. The flavor, though, of the last couple of pages ought to be radically different from the flavor of the first couple of pages.
For a bunch of reasons, of course, but the design elements follow along, creating (I hope) a consistent development.
Also, thank you, I think!
"If it's not obvious, that's good."
DeleteAmen, brother! You have definitely made some real progress -- congratulations.
This'd make a beltin' short film. Get werner Herzog to narrate it. Get Frank, Friedlander and Goldin to cameo as bumbling neighbors and get Bruce Gilden on the bins. Next stop Hollywood!
ReplyDeleteBut that's cheating. Anything whatever narrated by Herzog is going to be awesome.
DeleteAlley of Forgotten Dreams!
DeleteThat was enjoyable. I live in an old house that used to have an alley, but at some point the city sold the land to homeowners. We have an extra bit of land at the back that used to be ally. It's actually a little higher than the rest of the yard, and there's a small drainage ditch running in along side it. Mostly we use the space to pile yard waste before hauling it away every so often. I'd rather have an alley. They are more social than fenced off yards that abut each-other.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyable indeed.
ReplyDeleteI have a warm feeling about alleys from my kidhood in Oregon, but the ones around my current neighborhood are overgrown and I suspect mainly used my the occasional rat and their predators.
In Canada they're called 'lanes' in residential areas (I think 'alley' means a nasty one downtown with drug deals and puke). What you have behind your home is 'the lane.' That's the kind you have.
Well done. I'll leave it to others to decide if this fits within the space you created with your Manifesto! I just enjoyed it, and I think it fits well with what you've been trying to say about photography since you started the blog.
ReplyDeleteI might not have noticed the design changes if I hadn't been set up to look for them by earlier posts. But they were sublet changes, so even though I knew they were happening, they didn't take over. I liked that.
This kind of thing works, for me, when I understand someone or something better because of it. I've never been to your town, and maybe I never will. But if I do go, I'll look for the alleys, and I'll definitely understand them, and see them, in ways I would not have otherwise. So that's a success of sorts for Molitor Heavy Industries.
Indeed well done ! Look forward to seeing your elements of design. As to Blurb, A charge of $8 for 32 pages is quite reasonable. Please do share your results with ink life (fading, durability of pages and their edges) as I publish a quarterly magazine, and would like to send our Blurb printed copies, and it runs about 50 pages.
ReplyDeleteI have read the full article and found some valuable information that should take place in my next seminar. Whoever wrote this, absolutely You are a genius.
ReplyDelete